With a glass of water in her hand, she turned to return to the bedroom. A dark figure appeared in the doorway. The glass slipped from her hand, smashing on the floor. The light came on, blinding her as she screamed. She stumbled back.
“Stand still,” Quinn barked out.
Crista tried to catch her breath, her heart racing. “Christ, you scared me!”
“What happened?” Nash appeared behind Quinn, looking deliciously rumpled, both of them wearing boxers. And nothing else.
“Sorry, I, umm, dropped a glass,” she said, still shaking from the fright Quinn had given her. “I’ll clean it up. You guys go back to bed.”
Quinn took a step forward. “I scared her. She didn’t see me. Stay very still, Crista,” he ordered. “I don’t want you stepping on any glass. I’m going to lift you, all right?”
“No, don’t.” She slapped at his hands, stepping sideways to avoid him. “Ow,” she cried out, raising her foot. “Damn it.”
“Enough.” Quinn gave her a stern look and her stomach quivered, her body freezing. Reaching over, he clasped her around the waist and carried her to the small table, setting her down on it.
“Stay there,” he ordered. He turned on the light before stalking into the bathroom. Crista raised her leg, trying to look at her foot. She winced as she prodded at it.
Quinn returned with some tweezers and antiseptic. He sat in a chair and pulled her foot onto his lap.
“I got most of the glass, but don’t go back there in bare feet, all right?” Nash said as he walked in.
Crista bit her lip and nodded. “I’m really sorry I woke you guys up,” she apologized.
“What are you doing awake, darlin’?” Nash asked, leaning against the wall to stare down at her. “You have a nightmare?”
She shrugged, wincing as Quinn fished the glass out of her flesh. His hands were hot against her cool feet. “Yeah, maybe. I usually wake up about this time anyway. I haven’t slept properly since the day Andrew attacked me.”
“You know the cure for that, don’t you?” Quinn said, putting a Band-Aid on her foot.
“Sleeping pills?”
“Oh, my way doesn’t involve drugs, and it’s far more pleasurable.”
She caught her breath and glanced up at Nash to gauge his reaction.
Nash’s gaze was hungry, intense…and aimed at her.
“Why don’t you two go sleep in the bed?” she suggested, feeling breathless. “I’ll watch some TV out here.”
Quinn stood. “You need some more sleep. You have dark bags under your eyes and you’re very pale.”
Yeah, she got it. She was a mess.
“I won’t be able to sleep. And I feel guilty about you guys sleeping out here. You can’t be getting any more rest than I am. You two take the bed.”
“All right.”
She looked up in surprise at Quinn’s easy agreement. He swooped down, picking her up in his arms.
“Will you stop carrying me around,” she snapped as he easily held her up against him. “You’re going to strain something.”
Smack! She let out a squeal as he strode into the bedroom. “You hit me,” she accused, rubbing her abused bottom cheek.
“No.” He placed her on the bed. “I slapped your ass. And that’s just a taste of what you would have coming… If you belonged to me.”
Chapter Six
Quinn looked on in shock as Crista went stark white and scooted up against the headboard. He turned to Nash, who stared at her in concern.
She pointed her finger at them. “Look, I’ll tell you what I told Nash. I’m not going near a man who would beat me. Not ever again. You hit me and I’m calling that deputy.”
“Good.” Quinn could tell he’d surprised her with his agreement. He sat on the bed, wincing as she shied away from him. Damn, he hadn’t meant to scare her. Idiot. “You should never allow someone to hit you or abuse you. Not that anyone will with Nash and me around. Crista, neither of us would ever beat you. We would never lay a hand on you in anger.”
“You just said that if I was yours you’d hit me!”
“No,” Nash said, coming closer, his voice calm. “Quinn said he’d spank you. Like I was trying to tell you before, it is not the same thing.”
“Crista, we’ve both seen what you fantasize about. You know what BDSM is, what a Dom and submissive are.” Quinn watched her carefully. Her eyes widened, but with fear? Or arousal? If he were a betting man, he’d say both.
Jesus, maybe he should back off. He didn’t want to push her too far. Didn’t want her afraid of him. But she needed to learn to trust them. Next time she ignored an order she could end up badly hurt.
“How do you know what I fantasize about?” she asked.
“We saw a story on your e-reader.”
“You looked at my e-reader? How dare you!” She seared them both with her gaze. “That was private.”
Quinn raised a brow. “It’s a mighty hot story, sweetheart. Did it make you wet?” he questioned her in a low voice.
She blushed, giving herself away.
“Honey, being aroused is nothing to be ashamed of.” Nash sat on the other side of the bed so they surrounded her. “And being a submissive is something you should embrace.”
She snorted. “Right. Because that went so well last time I tried. Anyway, I’m not a submissive. I hate pain. I hate being unable to stop someone from hurting me.”
What the fuck? Quinn looked over at Nash, who shook his head. He had no idea either.
“Crista, being a submissive doesn’t mean you have to like pain,” Quinn said calmly. “Some do, sure. But others don’t. A sub gifts a Dom her submission, her trust, but ultimately she can stop everything. All you would have to do is say your safe word and the scene ends. While a Dom may push his sub, they would never harm her. Their job is to keep their sub safe, to give her what she needs.”
“I said my safe word,” she whispered. “I yelled it and he didn’t stop.”
Quinn’s heart stopped. He swore he felt the muscle freeze and stop beating. “Who?”
What kind of asshole Dom would abuse his power like that? Would put his own needs and wants above what was best for his submissive?
“Andrew,” she whispered. “That’s why I broke things off with him. I-I told him that I— That I would like to try s-some things. That I was interested in bondage and submission.” She took in a shuddering breath. “He was interested, aroused. So we made arrangements. I went to his house one night. I wore what he told me. I ate what he told me. It wasn’t—It wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was kind of degrading.”
Quinn clenched his hands. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on O’Ryan.
“But I was the one who wanted to try it, so I kept going.”
“Shit,” Nash swore. Crista didn’t seem to hear him, too deep inside her own head.
“He wouldn’t even let me go to the bathroom by myself.”
Quinn heard the horror in her voice, knew how hard that would have been for someone as modest as Crista. She was talking of a master-slave relationship. Why hadn’t O’Ryan eased her into this? Hell, why had she even agreed to that level of play? Unless she hadn’t. It obviously hadn’t aroused her.
“Did the two of you talk about what you wanted before you started?” he asked her. “Because you can always adjust what is comfortable for you as you go along. A Dom may push you, but he should always accept your hard limits.”
“We didn’t really talk much beyond the fact that he wanted me to do everything he told me to for the night. I thought with my safe word I would be all right.”
She shivered.
“Darlin’, I don’t want to scare you, but I’m going to take you into my arms, okay?” Nash slid her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her trembling body. He shot Quinn a warning look. Quinn nodded. He knew he had to tread carefully.
“Crista, what happened next?” Quinn asked gently.
“I thought things would get better once we got to the sex
. He led me to his bedroom and tied my hands and feet to the bed. That part was great. I-I like being restrained. Or at least I did for a start. Then he— Then he blindfolded me, which kind of worried me but I didn’t have time to say anything, because he started hitting me. I think it was a flogger. He started hitting me harder and harder. It was painful. But that wasn’t as bad as the cane. I screamed my safe word, I know I did. I don’t remember much after that. Everything became a weird blur.”
Nash rocked her gently, kissing her forehead to soothe her.
“Did he rape you?” Quinn asked harshly. Anger poured through him, needing an outlet. He clenched his hands, held them tightly on his lap.
She shook her head. “No, I kind of remember him touching me. But he didn’t rape me.”
At least she’d been spared that horror. No wonder she reacted so badly to his threat to spank her.
I’m an asshole.
He didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve either of them.
“Don’t, Quinn,” Nash said quietly.
Quinn looked up at him quizzically.
“I can see what you’re thinking. You’re comparing yourself to him,” Nash said, his gaze concerned. “But you know that you are nothing like O’Ryan. Neither one of us would ever hurt her.”
Crista raised her head, tears streaking her cheeks. She rubbed her hands over them. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to imply you were like Andrew. I know you wouldn’t hurt me. But you guys are obviously into that stuff and, well, I’m not.”
“That’s not true, darlin’.” Nash leaned her back to stare into her face. “It’s true that we’re Doms. But you are submissive, and we could show you exactly how much you would like that stuff.”
Nash rested a finger across her lips as she opened her mouth to speak. “Hush, listen to me for a moment. O’Ryan is an abusive asshole. He is not a true Dominant. A true Dominant would always put your needs above their own. They would never disrespect your hard limits or push for more than you could give. And never, under any circumstances, would they ignore your safe word. He didn’t take into account what you needed, what you liked. What you experienced was abuse. It had nothing to do with safe, consensual BDSM.”
She remained quiet, listening to him.
“Quinn and I would never treat you like O’Ryan did. We’re attracted to you, darlin’. We’d like to show you how good it can be to give your submission to a Dom, well, two.” He cheekily winked at Quinn.
Crista frowned, looking between them both in confusion. “How come you want me when you know, you have, umm, each other?”
“When we can fuck each other, do you mean?” Quinn asked, reaching over to brush his hand over her thigh. He simply had to touch her.
She gasped, staring frantically at them both, her cheeks blazing red.
“Yeah, we saw you, brat,” Quinn told her, deeply amused by her obvious embarrassment. “But we like women. Nash is the only man I’ve ever been attracted to. I don’t consider myself gay.”
He pushed a tendril of hair back off her face, taking in her wide gaze. Such an innocent.
“I still don’t understand why you want me. Is it because you think I’m…” She trailed off.
“Submissive? Yes. And we don’t think. We know,” Quinn said with surety, moving closer to them both. He grabbed her hands, stilling her agitated movements. “No, that’s not the reason. That’s part of it, but there are other submissives we could bring into our relationship if we wanted just anyone. We don’t. We want you.”
Nash ran his hand over her hair. “I’ve been attracted to you from the first moment I saw you, Crista.”
“You sure didn’t show it.” Lord, she looked cute when she pouted.
Quinn winked at her.
Nash smiled. “Because I thought you were too sweet and innocent for my needs. And I’d been hurt.” He looked at Quinn. “I’d given my heart and been burned, I wasn’t ready to risk that happening again.”
Crista looked over at Quinn, gazing at him seriously. “You two were involved with each other before you came here?”
Quinn shifted his weight. “Sort of. I was a fool. I couldn’t admit how I felt about Nash because I was scared. I’ve never felt this way about a man before. I’ve been hurt badly once and ever since I’ve had this…fear, I guess, of being hurt again. I’m not used to opening up to others. It took Nash leaving for me to get a clue and realize that he is the most important thing in my life.”
Quinn stared at Nash and their gazes met. Love swelled in his chest.
“So why would you want to bring me in?” she asked. “You two love each other, I could just mess that up.”
Nash leaned down and kissed her. Quinn looked on, his cock twitching demandingly. When Nash drew back, both of them were panting heavily. Quinn longed to pull her onto his lap and kiss her senseless, but they needed her to understand a few things.
“That’s why,” Nash told her huskily. “Sometimes I can barely breathe because of what I feel for you. I want you. And Quinn and I, well, we don’t really work that well when it’s just the two of us. The sex is hot, but we’re both as dominant and bossy as each other. We’re too similar. We need someone to balance us out. And both of us want you, Crista darlin’.”
“I barely know either of you.”
“We know. And we know this is asking a lot,” Quinn said honestly. “A relationship between a Dom and his sub requires trust and, with your past, I’m sure it’s hard for you to trust any man. But can you give us this weekend? Let us show you that your submissive side is nothing to be ashamed of. I want to see where this could go. And until O’Ryan is caught, you’re not leaving our sides. The three of us are going to be very close, constantly touching, in each other’s space. We’ll self-combust without some release.”
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
Quinn moved in close, straddling Nash’s legs with his. His chest brushed against Crista’s arm.
“Crista, look at me.”
He waited until her beautiful blue eyes were staring up at him. “I won’t lie. Parts of this won’t be easy for you. We will push you, but never beyond what you can take. Both of us are arrogant and possessive. While you are with us you’ll be with no one else. You will have two of us devoting our attention to you. At times it will be overwhelming, but I promise you will experience pleasure beyond your greatest beliefs.
“But, baby,” he clasped her cheeks in his hands, “we will expect obedience from you. Particularly when we’re playing. When it comes to sex or a scene, we are in charge. Outside of play we still expect you to treat us with respect and we will give you the same. Honesty, communication and respect are what a relationship is built on. And it is always consensual. If you grow scared you can ask us to slow down. If you’re in too much pain or afraid then say your safe word. But just remember, you disobey and you will be punished. Can you handle that?”
Crista took a deep breath. Could she handle it? She didn’t know. Andrew had used her needs against her. But Quinn and Nash weren’t Andrew. Just look at the way they were insisting on protecting her. They’d rescued her from the scaffolding without teasing her once.
They were good men. They were protective, almost excessively so. They complimented her, treated her as though she was worth caring about. “You’ll honor my safe word?”
“Always,” they swore together.
“I-I don’t want to be blindfolded or gagged,” she admitted.
Nash dropped his hand to her breast. “Then you won’t be blindfolded or gagged. Until you trust us enough.”
“We’ll want your obedience, your submission,” Quinn added. “We will want you kneeling at our feet.”
She shivered at the imagery. She couldn’t deny how hot the idea of submitting to these two men made her. But she still had reservations. “I can’t— There are things I just can’t do.”
Nash kissed her. “We all have our limits. Tell us what your hard limits are.”
“Umm, well, no whippi
ng, umm…” She trailed off, unsure of where to begin. This was so far out of her realm of experience.
“What about blood play?” Quinn asked.
“No.” She shuddered.
“Wax play?” he asked calmly, as though asking her if she wanted fries with her burger.
“No.”
They went through a list with which she agreed or disagreed. Some she wasn’t sure about and they went on her soft limit list. Nash wrote down everything.
“Flogger?” Quinn questioned.
She swallowed heavily. She was scared of the flogger. But only after Andrew had used it on her. Before then she’d been fascinated. It came down to whether she trusted them not to abuse her. And she wouldn’t be here if she truly thought that they’d harm her. It was just that sometimes her fear took over, robbing her of the ability to think things through.
“Soft limit,” she whispered.
“Brave girl,” Nash praised her, running his hand up and down her back. “Both of us have just been tested for STDs, we’re required to once a year as part of our club membership. We always use condoms.”
Crista swallowed heavily. “I got tested after Andrew… Trudy took me. And I’m clean. I haven’t slept with anyone since.”
“Are you on the Pill?” Quinn asked.
She nodded.
“We’ll still use condoms,” Nash said. “It’s our job to protect you. Now why don’t you tell us what turns you on and what doesn’t.”
Crista couldn’t believe that she was sitting in the lap of one of the sexiest men she’d ever met in her life and he was asking her about what turned her on.
“Umm, you,” she mumbled. Duh.
Nash’s chest moved. She turned her head, glaring at him. “Are you laughing at me?”
“I think he’s just happy to know he turns you on,” Quinn interjected, for once playing peacemaker. He shifted his weight, drawing her attention to his body. Wow. What had she ever done to deserve not one but two gorgeous gods in her bedroom?
Crista was well aware of her own looks and they in no way measured up to the lusciousness before her. She had a nice enough face, not unpleasant to look at but fairly plain. Her wild hair was long and often messy, but she considered it her best feature. Her body was a different story. Her hips were too wide, her boobs big and saggy. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to start doing some exercises, and maybe try one of those diets Andrew had always been harping on about. Crista looked down at her stomach and sucked in.
Bound to Them Page 9
